December 31, 2016

Privileged old white guy comes to the defense of white privilege

“Very few commentators will tell you that the heart of liberalism in
America today is based on race,” O'Reilly said. “It permeates almost
every issue. That white men have set up a system of oppression. ...
So-called white privilege bad. Diversity good.”

The irony is that O'Reilly's entire argument is an explicit defense of white privilege. Race and party are tightly intertwined. The priorities of the parties
reflect their membership, and therefore talking about partisan
opposition often overlaps with talking about racial tension. That also
means that defenses of the power of Republican voters overlap with
defenses of the power of white voters.

Another way to frame
O'Reilly's central premise is this: In the face of a diversifying
American population, should protections be maintained that continue to
support the political dominance of white people? A lot of white people,
including O'Reilly, would say yes. A lot of nonwhite people would
presumably say no.

On Jan. 20, the power structure of the federal
government will be dominated by the Republican Party. The new
establishment will be more white, will be acting on behalf of a heavily
white party and will be less inclined to answer the preceding question
in the negative. Nonwhite voters preferred Clinton and white voters
preferred Trump (generally, though not universally).

It's the preference of the latter group that carried the day — and O'Reilly's entire argument is that it deserved to.